


Stolen Kisses And Everything Else

by seriousfic



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-26
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 17:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/700926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seriousfic/pseuds/seriousfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It seemed almost like mockery at first. Richard would give Kahlan's hand a squeeze and a moment later, Cara would bump her hand against Kahlan's. When Richard patted Kahlan on the back, Cara would swat her like she'd seen a bug. And when Richard kissed Kahlan, Cara would snap her teeth at her like a well-trained attack dog.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stolen Kisses And Everything Else

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the LOTS_Femslash Fic-A-Kiss-A-Thon.

It all started out innocently enough, even by Kahlan's standards. Cara took to repeating Richard. Not, obviously, the confused but interested looks he wore when Zedd was explaining something about magic. Nor the way his eyes burned with righteousness when he promised justice for some poor farmer. No, all she imitated was the way he touched Kahlan.

 

It seemed almost like mockery at first. Richard would give Kahlan's hand a squeeze and a moment later, Cara would bump her hand against Kahlan's. When Richard patted Kahlan on the back, Cara would swat her like she'd seen a bug. And when Richard kissed Kahlan, Cara would snap her teeth at her like a well-trained attack dog.

 

“Have you noticed anything different about Cara?” Kahlan asked her lover during their customary fireside cuddle, while Cara was off on _her_ customary hunt.

 

“Now that I think about it, _everything_ about Cara is different.” Kahlan knitted her brow in irritation and Richard lowered his voice peaceably. “She has been talking to me about being more than a Mord'Sith.”

 

Kahlan smiled ruefully. It did her heart good to hear that her friend was continuing to grow, even if it hurt a little that she'd heard secondhand. “I didn't know there was anything more than a Mord'Sith for her.”

 

“Maybe our engagement made her a little jealous. But you know Mord'Sith. They're raised to use every touch for pain or control. She's not used to touching someone out of fondness.”

 

“I don't mind her being awkward. She can slap me around all she wants so long as it makes her feel better.”

 

“I think she might take you up on that,” Richard teased.

 

Kahlan shook her head. Cara would never hurt her. She knew it with a certainty beyond explanation.

 

***

 

As hard as it was for Cara, she improved with leaps and bounds. She even brought herself to touch Zedd, bumping him with her shoulder when he'd done an adequate job of saving their lives.

 

Kahlan always did her best to respect Cara's very tall and thick boundaries. She felt she understood the Mord'Sith better than Zedd or even Richard. After all, they had chosen to be who they were, while Cara and Kahlan had been chosen, as children and earlier.

 

She knew it would embarrass Cara to speak openly of her learning, so she tried to think of a way to support Cara as silently as possible. It took an off-hand comment from Zedd--”You don't tell me how to read a spellbook, girl, and I won't tell you how to... braid your hair!”--for Kahlan to figure out how. She waited for a quiet moment alone—and Richard practicing magic with Zedd was about as quiet as it got, even with the explosive sounds coming over the ridge.

 

Cara examined her arrows like they contained the secret of life, and while Kahlan would usually peruse a scroll-reciting choice bits for Cara's amusement—today she said “Your hair's getting long.”

 

“You're welcome to take one of your daggers to it if it offends you,” Cara snapped without thinking.

 

“I thought I might comb it instead,” Kahlan offered, pulling a delicate ivory comb from her pack. Cara stared at it like it might be a scorpion in disguise. Kahlan could see her clear longing, and the struggle to make herself comfortable with it that came after.

 

Kahlan tried to take away from any pressure Cara might feel, not pouting nor overly smiling. She pretended she was Richard, back when he had gotten a deer to eat out of his hand. Barely moving at all, just radiating calm and assurance.

 

Cara wanted it bad enough to give herself an excuse. “Would doing this please you?”

 

Now Kahlan let herself smile. A big toothy grin. “Very much so.”

 

Cara bowed her head slightly. “If it pleases the Lady Rahl.”

 

She exposed her back to Kahlan—a privilege afforded to few—and meekly sat down, legs crossed and hands resting on her knees. Kahlan knelt behind her, first petting Cara's hair with her hands gently. Cara's spine was stiff, but she quickly grew used to Kahlan's touch. The uppermost of the tension left her body.

 

Cara's hair was glossy and smooth, owing to an oil she anointed it with each morning to neutralize her scent. But it was a little tangled, as the only comb it saw on the road was Cara's gloved fingers. Cara just seemed to grin as Kahlan brushed them out. The pain was seasoning. Then it faded and all was the teeth of the comb, gnawing upon her scalp.

 

“You have very pretty hair,” Kahlan said, feeling the tips of it in her palm as she combed.

 

“Everything about me is pretty,” Cara stated.

 

“Yes, but generally,” Kahlan began, as if she were just tossing out ideas, “it'd be considered polite to tell me my hair is pretty too.”

 

Cara was mystified. “Of course your hair is pretty. Why would you need a sister of the Agiel to tell you that? Has someone said your hair isn't pretty?” Cara said the last with a distinct undercurrent of menace.

 

“ _Of course_ not,” Kahlan replied, jokingly boisterous. “But when you like someone, complimenting one of the things you like about them is a show of affection. It's like a little kiss; Richard compliments my eyes all the time.”

 

Cara snorted. “Your eyes are unremarkable. You have a strong mouth.”

 

“That wasn't bad for a first-time...”

 

“I like your breasts.”

 

“And... that's valid.” Kahlan nodded. “Maybe in the next town, we could practice. You following my lead.”

 

“I don't want to compliment other people. They bathe sparsely.”

 

Kahlan laughed. “You don't have to talk up their smells. Just... be nice.”

 

Cara grew serious... or even more serious. “It's not that easy for me. I'm not nice.”

 

“You can be a lot nicer than most people I've known.”

 

Cara blinked a few times, like a reptile with something in its eye. “Would you like me to comb your hair?”

 

Kahlan leaned in to kiss the back of Cara's head. “If it would please you.”

 

When Richard got back, he found Kahlan with a Mord'Sith braid.

 

***

 

“So you and Cara seem to be getting closer,” Richard said around the fire. “When are you gonna hold hands?”

 

“I'm not sure,” Kahlan answered, “but soon. A few days at the most. You were teasing me, weren't you?”

 

"Yeah."

 

***

 

Soon after, Richard and Zedd needed to ride off to center their Han. Kahlan suspected that was code for drinking beer and belching, but she didn't mind. Cara seemed to open up to Kahlan more when the boys weren't around.

 

Richard kissed her goodbye and rode off, and almost before he had disappeared from sight, Cara was kissing her as well. Cara didn't kiss like Kahlan thought she would—not that she'd thought about it, at least not awake. She sort of snuck her tongue into Kahlan's motuh and softly ran it around like a feather duster, tasting all there was to taste. It compared quite favorably to Richard's effort.

 

“Was that good?” Cara asked afterward, with the look she got when her face had to be neutral but didn't want to be.

 

Kahlan caught her breath. She surprised herself by how quickly she was comfortable with what had happened. Certainly, it was unexpected, but it was also _Cara._ She wouldn't associate a kiss with love the way someone else would. To her, it was no different from a hug or a handshake. “Very good.”

 

“But was it how a woman would kiss?” Cara saw Kahlan's confusion. Hated it. “And not a Mord'Sith?”

 

“What's wrong with how a Mord'Sith kisses?”

 

“Nothing!” Cara said defensively. “But it's not how I want to kiss you.” She looked away rather than risk looking vulnerable, scrutinizing a nearby bush like it might pose a threat.

 

“Well, I imagine the kiss of a Mord'Sith would be very... demanding. The kiss of another woman wouldn't be better or worse, just different.”

 

“Go on,” Cara insisted, still checking the bush for hidden weapons.

 

“It could be as demanding, but it would also be soft. It could yield to another force while retaining a certain... pleasure. You get what you need and you also give what is given.”

 

“Like a tree,” Cara said, looking at a bush closer to Kahlan. “Bending in the face of the wind to avoid being blown down.”

 

“I suppose so.”

 

“I could yield... if the wind were strong enough.”

 

Kahlan kissed her now; they surrendered to each other. Cara urged Kahlan to take control, rubbing her face in her hands and kissed her like she owned her. Cara gave in, softly, pliantly, curving beneath Kahlan like she was just a blade of grass the Confessor was blowing on.

 

“Soft,” Kahlan said, showing Cara a few more kisses on the side of her face, “and warm.”

 

Cara moaned inarticulately, as Kahlan's tongue slipped into her ear. “I still like my way better.”

 

“It's good to try new things,” Kahlan assured her, burying her nose in the crook of Cara's neck. “Things your body isn't used to...”

 

Cara started gibbering. Kahlan was licking the nape of her neck.

 

Kahlan was pretty sure she wasn't teaching a friend to kiss anymore, but she kept kissing anyway. How many chances did you get to neck with a Mord'Sith?

 

***

 

In Aydindril, Kahlan was wed to Richard, with a few changes to the ceremony reflecting that he would not be her brain-dead slave. Cara thought that was rather presumptuous. The ceremony was breathtaking, the reception was magical, and the honeymoon was all of the above.

 

“Are you sure _that's_ the sword?” Kahlan asked afterward, or more accurately in between.

 

“Yeah, it's written on the hilt.”

 

“I didn't check for writing when I was down there.”

 

"But you'd like to?"

  
"Most certainly."

 

"Not that there's much to look at right this moment. Which is completely your fault."

 

Kahlan shrugged her shoulders eloquently.

 

"I believe that makes it my turn now," Cara said, stepping out of the shadows. Kahlan found herself smiling.

 

The newlyweds, used to her particularly feline intrusions, made the bare minimum of effort to cover themselves. Cara didn't mind. She just pulled the sheet away from Kahlan; utterly gratuitous, since it was her lips she was interested in. The Mord'Sith followed up with a look to Richard, challenging yet friendly and also checking to see that he was unoffended. Richard was more bemused than anything else. He grinned as wide as Kahlan when Cara demonstrated all she'd learned.

 

"Mmmm," Cara moaned, raising her thumb to Richard. "I believe this is a worthy mate for the Lord Rahl. Now to see if she's a worthy mate for _me._ " She said all that smiling with her particular zeal at Kahlan, and now she turned it to Richard. "Not to offend, but I don't believe Richard is up to pleasing the Mother Confessor at the moment."

 

"It's been two minutes. Even the best horse can't ride at full gallop all night."

 

Cara smirked. "Kahlan is welcome to ride me for as long as she wants."

 

Kahlan gave Cara a pat on the shoulder, silencing her. Cara took the interruption as opportunity to strip out of her leathers, a process which distracted both of the newlyweds. "Richard," Kahlan said, emphatically turning her back on Cara. "Are you sure you're alright with this? I know I promised you a surprise, but—"

 

"Honestly? I was wondering how long it would take for you two to fall into bed. Creator only knows the hints I would've found myself dropping.."

 

"So you're okay with this?" Kahlan insisted.

 

"I've traveled through time for you, braved the Underworld for you, even fought the occasional army. If the most you're going to ask of me now is to share you with someone who loves you as much as Cara does, I can live with it. Just no more gars, okay?"

 

Kahlan laughed. "No more gars, I promise."

 

"Kahlan," Cara called, her corset dangling from her finger, "I may need some assistance with this next part."

 

"I'll leave you two alone," Richard said, grabbing up his trousers. "I think the Marquis of Densbury sent some key wine. I'll go share it with the other Mord'Sith."

 

"Stay," Cara said, looking casually sexual as Kahlan helped undo her laces. "Once you see a Sister of the Agiel in action, you'll be in prime condition to once more satisfy the Lady Rahl. And I have some advice for you in that matter, some of which I will demonstrate."

 

Richard gave Kahlan a look.

 

"At least there're no gars," she said.

 

From then on, Kahlan, who had never taken a lover in her life, had two. And she more than made up for lost time.


End file.
